ScruffytheJanitor

Chuck Finley
Chuck Richter
The Richter Scale
Earthquakes
California
Dodgers
Yasiel Puig
Cuba
Obama

Extra points for not even using Kevin Bacon?

Let me save everyone some news cycle time:
PEDs
Illegal drugs
Money laundering
International crime
Richard Steele
Dossier
Russia
Trump and Clinton
 
There. Now we can. All just yell at each other over Trump and Clinton.
 

Ibanez in 2009 was too good to be true. He’s been a long time client of Levinson. 

@Dtwncbad 
Any comments?

Since Maybin got traded, wouldn't resigning him cost us a pick?

I’ve asked, as recently as Thursday. If he’s actively engaged in a serious way with anyone, he does a good job hiding it. 
My impression is he’s probably talked to th agents of a handful of guys and told them he’s interested if they get to $X level. He probably checks in every few days or so to see what’s up. He’s not just on vacation.
The bottom line is he’s not going to tell me exactly what he’s doing, but he’s given me the impression that I don’t need to be waiting by my phone for big news. 
 

why not just sign Lance Lynn at this point?
3.02 era 1st and 2nd time through the order the last 3 years.  
Odorizzi - 3.24 era 1st and 2nd time through the last three years.   Pretty damn good but worth giving up currency for when you've got comparable arms that just cost money (and not prospects).  If Eppler and co know something about him turning a corner then I'm all for it.  
The key is going to be picking the right OFer to trade.  Because trading one of Adell, Jones or Marsh seems like a strong play if it nets a front of the rotation starter or someone who has the potential to be that.  I just remember the rumors of trading Trumbo for Kluber and how we were pretty much all against that.  Myself included.   Two cy young's later and I feel like an idiot.  Maybe it's best to leave the baseball stuff to the baseball people.  

btw, Ian Krol is a cool name.  He should drop his first name and go by KROL.  All caps.  Like it's an acronym.  
 

Am I the only one seeing the O’s trade Machado AND Sisco AND Mullins, and only getting back the up and down Shoe, up and down Bedrosian, and the questionable hitting Cowart?

So he'll play like he's 38 instead of 43.

we certainly have 8 in the top 150 or so.  With an argument for Thaiss and maybe even Hermosillo in that 150 as well.  
Aside from the obvious 'one that got away' in Vlad jr, seeing Whitley do what he's doing as the pick immediately after Thaiss is a little painful considering that he was certainly one of those mentioned as a possibility on draft day.  Probably means we don't draft Marsh but maybe it means we don't draft Williams.  Oh well.  Very happy with where we are vs. where we were a short time ago.  
I think our system has improved considerably, but it's also very interesting.  Adell, Marsh and Maitan have superstar potential.  Rodriguez has top of the rotation potential.  And then there's a bunch of other real solid guys with some upside.  That also doesn't even include what Ohtani is going to be.  We could have a couple in the top 20 even after Ohtani moves up.  
My guess is we take a similar strategy in this years draft with a safe pick in the 1st and something a bit more risky in rounds 2 and 3.  
Loved our 1st two picks last year.  Then lost a little excitement till Rivera at 11.  
A little bit of the opposite for 2016.  Not super excited about #1, but really liked 2-8.  
At this point, I feel like we've got enough depth so I hope we go with a bunch of big upside.  
And we can't forget about the guys in the top 30-40 with big upside like TH jr., Deveaux, Duensing, etc.  

Yeah this cannot be under stated, huge jump without gutting the club, well done.  

As a window into the inner workings of modern baseball front office's, I present to you Dipoto's advanced statastical formula for Albert's contract: $400k for every RBI he's expected to produce over the length of contract. Bonuses for every out he runs into on the bases. 

Hamilton and Pujols are on Dipoto regardless. Arte Moreno isn't the freakin' GM, Dipoto is. Both of them were Dipoto's idea. The fact that Moreno got involved in both negotiations was simply to help sell the team.
But upon Dipoto's exodus, which was a chickensh__ move, there's suddenly floated this idea to the media that quoted sources in the organization that Moreno was responsible for Pujols and Hamilton. And if you ask some of those same leaks, they'd blame the national cross-checker on all the college SP draft busts.
I mean is it any coincidence that once Eppler was here, that same crosschecker took Thaiss and Marsh?
The draft pick comes down to the GM, plain and simple.

Yeah, making fun of division rivals is totally something unheard of from fan bases and is no doubt only unique to Angels fans

Can we get back to laughing at Dipoto and the Mariners? This thread is turning into the awkward boner in the locker room.

Can he trade himself to the Astros? 

Dipoto definitely does NOT have the prospects to pull that off. He's emptied that farm in two short years the same way he did ours. I can pretty much already tell you how this plays out if Dipoto remains the way he is.
The Mariners are likely due for one really good season, probably in 2019 when they acquire more pitching, and in the meantime that payroll will inch higher and higher and the farm less and less until ownership finally draws the line and says no more. He'll try to be creative and make a slough of trades the way he does, and it'll generate excitement but he'll end up losing more than he wins until the team collapses in on itself, overburdened by expensive free agents that don't work out but you're still paying, and no minor league help on the way, and it's when that happens that Dipoto will grant interviews and spread word that it was ownership limiting him and a lack of vision that has caused their rift. He'll either leave or be hired and latch on as a consultant or AGM for some other team.
And in the meantime, the Angels make the playoffs every year and will have one of the best farm systems in baseball supplementing the team and driving their overall payroll to a sustainable level.
The Angels will eventually resemble the Cardinals, a team that is competitive every single year and has young kids stepping up big every single year. 

Aight, so, we are deep in a cold stove offseason. No unrealistic baseball talk. I'm personally sick of re-hashing lineup ideas and ideas for a 4th outfielder or utility infielder or precisely how to rate obscure members of our minor league system. So...

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Some weather we've been having, hu?

I presume you misspelled "worst take possible"

I presume you misspelled "worst take possible"

But that's the trade .
You can't say I hate what we gave up but love the trade. 
That's like saying I hate my wife but love being married

lol at the people saying they only hated it because of who we had to give up.
Newsflash: that means you hated the trade. 

Highly unlikely Hermosillo is the 4th OF. They want him to play, and the 4th OF won’t play.